The Whitecourt Children's Festival will now only be offered once every two years with the next festival taking place in May 2019 rather than 2018.

Whitecourt Town Council unanimously accepted this recommendation from the Whitecourt Children's Festival Committee during its regular meeting on Jan. 8. The Town has run this family-oriented entertainment event for the past three years.

Town administration stated that two of the three local schools had not planned on attending the 2018 festival due to may of the target students having already experienced the festival last year. Instead, these schools are planning different trips for their students this year.

"This was a decision that was prudently made by our community moving forward," said Whitecourt Mayor Maryann Chichak. "It's unfortunate when you have to make these types of changes, but when you are gearing a festival such as this based on attendance and if there's schools or a certain sector that can't commit to participating or contribute to cost recovery, those types of decisions have to be made."

Town administration also noted that while attendance was up overall last year, the public portion of it had decreased.

Coun. Derek Schlosser, who sits on the committee, said he fully supported the decision.

"It was difficult to have it every year," Schlosser said. "It's quite weather dependent too, which is unfortunate."

The budget for each festival will remain the same at $30,000, but Chichak said this change would save the Town $11,000 each year.

"Having it every second year will get the hype up and it will have the opportunity to have perhaps bigger and better performers come for our community," Chichak added.

There are some potential issue with changing the festival's schedule, including a loss of momentum for the event and limiting the number of grants that can be applied for.

During the meeting, Chichak asked if the festival could target different grades each year. Chelsea Grande, director of community services, replied that this would be harder for the entertainment.

"You're getting acts that are geared to that developmental stage," Chelsea said. "That's the only downside to that."